Magnetic handling apparatus



March 31, 1931. H. H. RAYMOND 1,798,629

MAGNETIC HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Jul 6, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 IIIIIIIMarch 31, T931.

H. H. RAYMOND 1,798,629

MAGNETIC I IANDLING APPARATUS F iied July 6 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 H. H.RAYMOND I MAGNETIC HANDLING APPARATUS March 31, 1931 Filed July 6 1 25 5Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Mar. 31, 1931 m new;

HORACE H. RAYMOND, OF,KE1\TSI1\TGTON, CONNECTICUT MAGNETIC HANDLINGAPPARATUS Application filed July 6',

mass or quantity of the articles to be arranged, which drum is providedwith a series of electro-magnets for sequentially extricating thearticles and depositing them in a guide so that they pass from themachine in question to whatever point they may be desired.

In the accompanying three sheets of drawings, I have illustrated oneform of construction embodying the improvements of my invention.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a machine viewed from the entrance orhopper side;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional viewand side elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of one of the electro-magnets.

Fig. 4 is a rear view, parts being broken away to show details ofconstruction.

Figs. 5 and 6 are details of the electric commutator. I

The drum 10 is provided with a hub 11 supported by the standard 12,having the bearing 13. This hub may be conveniently secured in positionby a bolt 14 which passes through an external disc 15 and screws into aninterior disc 16.

The drum is preferably mounted to rotate on a horizontal axis and isprovided with a recess or chamber 17 for the articles which are to beseparated and arranged in order. At one side of the drum I mount ahopper 18 so that a substantial quantity of the articles may be handledat one charge of the machine.

The standard 12 and hopper 18 may be conveniently supported on a base 19and a post 20 or in any other suitable manner.

. The drum 10 is a flange constituting the walls of said recess,

preferably provided with 1925. Serial No. 41,724.

a peripheral flange 21 and an outer flange 22 which may convenientlyserve as a belt surface for driving the drum. The parts are soconstructed as to provide a chamber 23 for a series of electro-magnets24. Each magnet consists of a coil wound on a sleeve 25 and providedwith a core 26 of magnetic material. This core is provided with an innerhead 27 which is preferably elongated circumferentially with respect tothe drum. The back of the recess 23 is open to permit the magnet coilsto be inserted, and the drumis provided with passages for the cores 26of the magnets. Each magnet is held in place by a screw 28 which screwsinto the outer end of its core and thus clamps the magnet to the drum.The outer periphery of the drum may be provided with openings for thescrews 28 and screw caps 29 for closing the openings. The recess 23 ispreferably closed by a cover plate 30 held in place in any suitablemanner. The drum is preferably formed of non-magnetic material and maybe of a single aluminum casting. The recess 17 is preferably providedwith a brass liner 31 through which the heads or pole pieces 27 of themagnets project.

The insulating ring 32 is mounted on the standard 12 adjacent the rearwall of the drum 10 and secured in position by one or more screws suchas 33. The screw 33 passes through an elongated slot 34 in the standardso that the ring 32 may be circumferentially adjusted for the purposehereinafter de scribed. This insulating ring 32 may be of what iscommonly termed fibre and carries two commutators, 35 and 36. Thecommutator 35 is in the form of a continuous ring, whereas thecommutator 36 is in the form of a segment which extends from a pointbelow the axis of the drum to a point which is above the axis, that is,.it is substantially semi annular. These commutator-s may be secured tothe insulating supporting ring 32 in any suitable manner and areprovided with terminals 37 and 38, respectively, for the cable whichprovides the electric current. Each magnet coil is connected to thebrush l0 which engages the outer ring 35 and each coil has an individualbrush 4:1 engaging the inner commutator segment 36. It will thus be seenthat each magnet will be energized during that portion of eachrevolution in which its brush 41 engages the commutator segment 36.Preferably the brushes and commutators are protected by a cover 42 whichis secured to the back of the drum and a shield 43 which is secured tothe standard 12.

The discharge guide preferably consists of two members 44 spaced apartfrom each other a sufficient distance to permit the passage of the shankof the articles to be sorted, or arranged, and the upperend of the guideis arranged spaced apart from the upper wall of the recess 17 in thedrum a sufiicient distance to allow for the passage of the head of thearticle. The inner end of the space between the guide members isarranged in the plane of the centers of the pole pieces 27. The width ofthese pole pieces is preferably narrow as indicated on the drawing. Thecurrent strength is such as to make the magnets only pick up articlesand carry them around in the plane of the opening between the inner endof the guides. Of course when an object is picked up by its end as isillus trated in Fig. 4 of the drawing, the object is supported above.its, center of gravity. By having these pole pieces comparatively smallthe effect of the magnets is concentrated and the likelihood of pickingarticles up by. their small ends is minimized. Of course if an articleis picked up by the small end, no particular harm is done as it would,01 course, drop through the guide when released by the magnet, but it isdesirable that the articles should be picked up properly, otherwise anumberof articles maybe picked up and then uselessly dropped withoutbeing properly deposited in the deflecting guide. The shape and size ofthe guide 44 will of course depend upon the shape and size of thearticles to be handled.

The commutator segment 36 is preferably so arranged or adjusted as tocause each magnet in turn to be energized at the. bottom of the hopperand de-energized just as it passes over the upper inner end of thedeflecting guide. This not only saves useless expenditure of energy butinsures the rapid pick-up and deposit of the articles in the guide asthe drum is rotated. The guide is so constructed and arranged, however,as to tend to properly deflect and detach the articles from the drum,even in case the magnet retains some of its attractive power.

The hopper is preferably provided with an inner flange 45 which extendsinto the drum recess and covers the. heads of the magnets throughout apart of the circumference of the drum. This keeps the weight of the massot-articles ed the drum except during the time necessary for the magnetsto act.

A guard plate 46 is preferably. provided and may be secured to the innerwall of the guide 44 next to the edge of the rotating drum so as toprevent articles from dropping down between the drum and the guide 44.The inner end 47 projects inside the drum above the guide 44 to preventany interference with the operation at this point.

The drum is also preferably provided with interior projections as 48which serve to agitate the mass of articles within the drum as the drumrotates. Such agitation is particularly desirable when the articlesbeing handled are large.

Theseprojections 48 may be hollow and serve as convenient conduits 49for the wires (not shown) leading from the brushes to the I magnets.

It is possible by apparatus of this character to automatically handlegreat quantities of articles at high speed at very small cost ofoperation. The construction is very simple and inexpensive and requiresa minimum amount of supervision and repair.

I claim:

1. A magnetic handler comprising a rotatable drum having a lateralrecess and a plurality otelectromag-nets having their poles disposed atintervals around and outside the rim of said recess, a horizontallydisposed bearing for said drum, spaced guides extending into said recessto a point adjacent the upper portion of the path of movement of saidmagnet poles, the inner ends of said guides being spaced apart axiallyof said drum and means for controlling the current supplied to saidmagnets.

2. A magnetic handler comprising a rotate able drum having a lateralrecess, a hopper extending laterally of said recess, a plurality ofelectromagnets having their poles disposed at intervals around andoutside the rim of said recess, and spaced guides extending into saidrecess to a point adjacent the path of movement of said magnet polesimmediately beneath the top of the recess in the drum and spaced toengage an elongated headed object before it is released by a magnet.

8. A magnetic handler comprising a rotatable drum having a lateralrecess and a plurality of electromagnets having their poles disposedradially at intervals around and outside the rim of said recess, spacedguides extending into said recess to a point adjacent and extendingacross the path of movement of said magnet poles, and means forcontrolling the current supplied to said magnets, said guides beingshaped to engage articles depending from said poles as they move. past,to retain those articles having their heads up and reject thosewiththeir heads down.

4. A magnetic handler comprising a rotatable drum having a lateralrecess closed at one side and a plurality of; electromagnets havingtheir poles disposed at intervals around and outside the rim of saidrecess, guides extending into said recess to a point adjacent an upperportion or" the path of movement of said magnet poles, and a hopperextending from one side of said drum, the recess in said drum extendingbelow the bot- 'tom of said hopper, and said hopper bottom extendingacross said recess to enable said magnets to extract articles from theside of a pile on said hopper bottom in the recess.

5. A rotatable drum having a recess, a hopper supplying said recess, aseries of magnets having poles exposed in said recess, and guides forheaded articles extending over the edge of said hopper into said recessto a point adjacent the path of movement of said poles immediatelybeneath the upper wall of the recess, said guides being constructed toengage such headed articles as are depending from said magnet poles andretain those having their heads up, those having their heads down beingrejected by said guides.

6. A magnetic handler comprising a. rotatable drum having a recess and anumber of electro-niagnets arranged around said recess, a hopper havinga flange extending into said recess and forming a part of the loadsupporting bottom wall thereof and guides leading out of said recess,said electro-magnets co-operating with objects held by the hopper toraise them for engagement with said guides.

7. A drum for a magnetic handler eomprising a one-piece non-magneticcasing having a central recess in the front and an annular recess in therear and magnets mounted in said rear recess with poles extending intothe front recess.

8. A magnetic handler comprising a hollow rotatable drum open at one endand closed at the other, magnets thereon, a guide having spaced endsprojecting inside said drum and a guard plate secured laterally of saidguide between it and said drum.

9. A magnetic handler comprising a 1'0- tatable drum having a centralrecess in its face and an annular recess at its rear and a group ofelectro-magnets spaced circumferentially in said annular recess, thepoles of said magnets extending into said central recess, means forenergizing said magnets throughout a part of a revolution of said drum,means for adjustably timing the energizing of said magnets, a hopperfeeding into said central recess, and spaced guides extending into saidcentral recess and adapted to assist in the removal of headed articlesfrom said magnets.

10. A handling machine consisting of two shallow concentric rotatablecylinders, carrying electro-magnets between the walls of said cylinders,the cores of said magnets being radially disposed and extending throughthe wall of the inner cylinder, a hopper feeding into one end of saidinner cylinder, a

plurality of contacting brushes, one for each of said magnets, asegments angularly adjustable about the centers of said cylindersadapted to energize said magnets successively throughout a portion ofeach revolution, and spaced guides extending into the inner cylinderadapted to carry away articles clinging to said magnets. I

11. A magnetic handler comprising an aluminum drum having a supportinghub at one side and with an open recess at the other side and having'a-cylindrical flange constitutingthe recess walls, a series ofelectro-magnets secured to said flange with elongated pole piecesextending through saidfiange into said recess, and spaced guidesforheaded articles having its entrance end in said recess in the path ofmovement of the shanks of articles held by the pole pieces above thecenters of gravity of said articles.

12. A magnetic handler comprising a nonmagnetic hollow drum providedwith magnets carried outside said drum and having their pole piecesextending through the drum peripheral walls, and means for rotating saiddrum and its magnets.

v 13. A magnetic handler comprising mag nets, a movable support thereforhaving a recess about which said magnets are arranged in such mannerthat elongated headed objects of magnetic material may hangsubstantially vertically from the pole pieces during upward travel ofthe magnets, a hopper for articles adjacent said magnets in the lowerportions of their travel, means for raising said magnets and guide meansfor Withdrawing such objects from the pole pieces, the pole pieces ofthe magnets which cooperate with the objects being so shaped andlocatedas to direct the objects into the guides.

14. In an apparatus for handling clongated headed objects, thecombination with a hopper, of a carrier constructed to withdraw suchobjects from the hopper endwise and with the heads of said objectseither up or down and means spaced from the hopper for withdrawing allthe objects from said carrier, said means being shaped to support onlythose objects having their heads adjacent said means and their shanks insubstantially the plane of movement of said carrier while rejecting allother objects on said carrier,

said guides being shaped adjacent said carrier to reject those objectsentering the guides and having their heads inverted.

15. The combination with a hopper, of means for carrying elongatedheaded objects from said hopper while supporting said ob-- jects abovetheir centers of gravity and with their heads either up or down, andmeans for extracting said objects from said carrier, Said extractingmeans being constructed to reject those objects within said means havingtheir heads below their centers of gravity and retaining and feedingthose objects having their heads above their centers of gravity. 7

16. A magnetic handler comprising a hopper, movable magnetic means forcarrying elongated objects of magnetic material from said hopper all insubstantial parallelism, and guide means extending into the path ofmovement of said objects to receive and hold 10 at least a substantialportion of them in parallelism.

17. A magnetic handler comprising a hopper, a magnet, means for movingsaid magnet to withdraw an elongated object of magnetic material fromsaid hopper suspended from one end and a guide for engaging such anobject suspended from one end by the magnet and for directing themovement of the object away from said magnet, the magnet 29 beingadapted to carry the object in a position for engagement with the guide.

18. A handling and selector mechanism for elongated headed objectscomprising a hopper, a carrier for withdrawing such objects from thehopper, and guide means extending adjacent said carrier for receivingobjects therefrom, said guide means being shaped adjacent the carrier toretain those objects having heads in one direction and 3e reject thosereceived objects having heads inverted.

19. A magnet handler comprising a hopper, a carrier for withdrawingobjects of magnetic material from the hopper and provided with a magnet,the carrier and magnet being movable below the hopper bottom, means forhaving the magnet inactive during its downward movement below the levelof objects within the hopper, and means for rendering said magneteffective through at least a portion of its upward travel.

HORAGE H. RAYMOND.

